Step Pharma adds €8.6M to series A

Autoimmune play Step Pharma S.A.S. (Paris, France) raised €8.6 million ($10.2 million) in the second and final close of a series A round, bringing the total to €14.5 million ($17.1 million). New investor Pontifax Group joined existing investors Kurma Partners, Bpifrance (Fonds Biothérapies Innovantes et Maladies Rares), the Inserm Transfert subsidiary of Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), Idinvest, Sygnature Discovery Ltd. (Nottingham, U.K.) and the Imagine Institute.

Step plans to use the funds to advance its oral immunomodulators into the clinic for autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD)...